Bolivian government comes under international pressure to drop false charges against Pablo Solón and Rafael Archondo, and stop the El Bala and Chepete dams

More than 70 organisations and 700 people from over 50 countries have called on the Bolivian government to drop its false charges against its former UN representatives, Pablo Solón and Rafael Archondo and to stop the proposed hydroelectric power projects, El Bala and Chepete.

The signatories include prominent public intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, Walden Bello and Susan George; Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine; US environmental leader Bill McKibben; Nigerian award-winning environmentalist, Nnimmo Bassey; renowned author Amitav Ghosh; Hollywood actress and indigenous rights activist Qorianka Kilcher; as well as a number of European parliamentary representatives, such as Philippe Lamberts, Helmut Scholz and Soren Sondergaard. The statement has also been supported by leading international human rights, peace and justice organisations such as Focus on the Global South, Transnational Institute, Global Justice Now, ATTAC, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, International Peace Bureau, CETRI, Migrant Forum Asia and FIAN International.

Many of the signatories have supported the Bolivian government since the election of Evo Morales in 2005, backing the country for its leadership on international issues, such as the Right to Water, the Rights of Mother Earth and Buen Vivir. The statement expresses their “profound disappointment” that the government is now persecuting its prominent former statesmen for daring to speak out against the environmentally-destructive hydroelectric power project and the El Bala and Chepete dams. The statement also expresses concern at other attempts to silence dissent to extractive projects. The statement concludes “Bolivia will have no credibility on climate change and the rights of Mother Earth if it invests in mega-dams and persecutes its principal environmental defenders.”

Shalmali Guttal of Focus on the Global South and one of the initiators of the sign-on statement said: “This is a clear case of criminalization of resistance to extractivist, destructive development. We are shocked to see this happening in Bolivia to advocates of climate justice and indigenous peoples’ rights by a government we had so much hope in.”

Walden Bello said: “Pablo Solón should be given an award for fighting for Bolivia’s environment instead of being persecuted. The Bolivian government should drop all charges against him and Rafael Archondo immediately.”

Brid Brennan of Transnational Institute said: “We hope the Bolivian government can live up to its rhetoric of ‘Buen Vivir’, by protecting its environmental defenders and advancing a new energy future – based not on mega-dams and fossil fuels – but on democratically-controlled public wind and solar energy.”

Dorothy Guerrero of Global Justice Now said: “We applauded Bolivia for enshrining the Law of Mother Earth in your constitution, making it the world’s first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. We also supported Bolivia’s strong Southern voice in demanding for big countries like the US and Britain to do steep carbon emission cuts in the UNFCCC. Pablo Solon and Rafael Orchondo are speaking for all of us and for nature with their opposition against El Bala and Chepete mega dams.”

It has just come to light that the criminal complaints against Solon and Archondo have expired and the charges against them hold no legal validity, so any pursuance of this case would be an even clearer case of political persecution.

Pablo Solon, said: “Even if they put me in jail, the mega dams of El Bala and Chepete will be a disaster for nature, indigenous peoples and Bolivia’s economy.”

We the undersigned have been inspired by Bolivia’s social movements that have shown that another world is possible. From the Water War in Cochabamba to the approval of a new constitution and a plurinational state in 2009, Bolivia has shown that it possible to challenge and present alternatives to post-colonialist states, neoliberalism, multinational power and US imperialism.

The election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales and the MAS government, heralded great hope for advancing not just a more socially just country, but a new international vision for a just society and a harmonious relationship with Nature rooted in the profound indigenous concept of ‘Buen Vivir’. Bolivia rightly became recognised on the international stage for its advocacy of Mother Earth rights and for its prophetic voice at UN climate summits, and particularly for its hosting of the historic World Peoples Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in 2010 in Cochabamba.

It is with profound disappointment, then, that we hear that one of the key organisers of the historic Cochabamba climate summit, Pablo Solón, along with Rafael Archondo, is being threatened by the Bolivian government with criminal charges and potential jail sentences of up to four years. The accusations six years on that allege Solón “illegally appointed” Archondo and that Archondo committed the crime of “prolonging functions in the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the UN” can only be seen as attempts to silence Solón for his vocal criticism of the government and the construction of two giant hydroelectric projects, El Bala and El Chepete in the Amazonian region.

These mega-dams, if built, also run completely against any vision of ‘Buen Vivir’. According to the government’s own commissioned studies, done by the Italian firm Geodata, they would inundate an area five times larger than Bolivia’s city of La Paz, displace more than 5000 indigenous peoples, and deforest more than 100,000 hectares. The evidence is also that they are not even economically viable given the current prices of electricity in Brazil.

We also note that the accusations against Solón and Archondo are not isolated cases, but are part of a series of threatened and implemented legal actions against individuals as well as attempts to close organisations in Bolivia that have a proud record of advancing social and environmental justice. This attempt to silence dissent goes against the principles of Bolivia’s new constitution and is deeply troubling for the potential long-term success of Bolivia’s revolution. Participatory democracy depends on a rigorous and robust debate, while environmental justice can only happen if communities at the frontlines of extraction are supported and empowered rather than silenced and criminalised.

We therefore urge you to drop the false charges against Pablo Solón and Rafael Archondo and stop the hugely destructive El Bala and El Chepete mega-dam projects. Bolivia will have no credibility on climate change and the rights of Mother Earth if it invests in mega-dams and persecutes its principal environmental defenders. We urge the Bolivian government to show that its international rhetoric on ‘Buen Vivir’ and the defense of Mother Earth is not empty rhetoric, but is reflected in its policies and practices at home.

Organisations/Organizaciones

Focus on the Global South

Transnational Institute

Global Justice Now

CIDSE

Indian Social Action Forum – INSAF

KRuHA, people’s coalition for the right to water

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF)

Bangladesh Krishok Federation

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific

CIDSE

Indigenous Perspectives

All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM)

WomanHealth Philippines

Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice

All India Forum of Forest Movements

Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF)

Mrinal Gore Interactive Centre for Social Justice and Peace in South Adia